TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, assured this Thursday that it has no intention of selling the social network. The statement arose as a result of the possible ban of the platform in the country, motivated after the approval of a law in the United States Congress and the subsequent signature of Joe Biden.
Said document obliges the parent company to get rid of the social network before January 19, 2025, one day before the end of Joe Biden's current term. Otherwise, TikTok will be banned in the country. They do so by alleging that the social network could be used by the Chinese government for espionage and propaganda purposes.
After this, the specialized website The Information, revealed that ByteDance could be considering selling the social network. A statement that the Chinese technology giant was quick to deny: "Foreign media reports that ByteDance is exploring the sale of TikTok are untrue. ByteDance doesn’t have any plan to sell TikTok." the company declared on its Toutiao account, a social network of the group to which AFP obtained access.
"We aren't going anywhere"
Meanwhile, the social network continues to fight the possible ban in the United States. The social network once again influenced the investment of nearly $1.5 billion in "Project Texas," a measure that would store the data of American users within the country and not export it to China, as is suspected to have been done until now.
In addition, the CEO of TikTok, Shou Zi Chew, assured, through a video uploaded to the platform, that the social network will try to fight the move in court, ensuring that the social network's veto is an act "against freedom of expression":
As you may have heard, Congress passed a bill that the President signed into law that is designed to ban TikTok in the United States. That will take TikTok away from you, and 170 million Americans who find community and connection on our platform. Make no mistake, this is a ban on TikTok, and a ban on you and your voice. Rest assured, we aren’t going anywhere.
@tiktok Response to TikTok Ban Bill ♬ original sound - TikTok
Selling TikTok, a complicated operation
Selling the social network is not as simple as it seems. As explained by AFP, acquiring the platform could only be undertaken by technology companies such as Meta or Google, which, for their part, could not acquire TikTok without violating certain competition and antitrust regulations.
But, in addition, the sale would have to be approved by Beijing which, in 2020, after former President Donald Trump tried to ban the social network in the country, declared the video recommendation algorithms (the platform's most important asset) as protected technology. This would represent a new inconvenience during the sales process.
Added to all this is the fact that TikTok, despite its enormous popularity, is a minimal part of the income generated by ByteDance, according to various analysts and investors.
The American Lead Edge Capital is one of the companies that invests in TikTok. The company allocated billions of dollars and intends to continue doing so, according to Mitchell Green, who told CNBC that the benefits of the social network in the United States are a "very small part":
TikTok US is a very small part of the overall business. It is an exciting part of the story, for sure, but... relative to the overall size, it's a very small part. If it was kicked out of the US, we would not sell.
